Syracuse Orange involvement in search for ACC commissioner extensive

The ACC plans to have a new commissioner in place by next summer, and the Syracuse Orange is playing a key role in the process.

Syracuse Orange leaders and a student-athlete will provide critical input, insights and decision-making into the next Atlantic Coast Conference commissioner, who will replace John Swofford.

In late June, Swofford announced his plans to retire after 24 years as the ACC’s commissioner. Earlier this month, ACC officials said that they had hired Haddonfield, N.J.-based Turnkey Search, a division of Turnkey Sports & Entertainment, to assist them in their search process for a new commissioner. Los Angeles-based Ventura Partners is also a partner in this process.

The ACC’s 15-member board of directors, which is led and chaired by Syracuse University Chancellor Kent Syverud, will interview the finalists and decide on the next commissioner of the league.

Also as part of this process, the ACC has revealed a 20-member search advisory committee that has additional ‘Cuse connections. Per a press release, this committee is “responsible for providing guidance and collecting information and feedback from member schools as part of the search process to select the conference’s next Commissioner.”

Syracuse Orange officials and a student-athlete are intimately involved in the search for the next ACC commissioner.

Co-chairing the search advisory committee are Wake Forest President Nathan Hatch and Notre Dame President Rev. John Jenkins. Syracuse-related representatives on this committee are Orange Athletics Director John Wildhack and ‘Cuse football player Kingsley Jonathan.

A big congrats to Jonathan, as only five student-athletes across the entire conference received inclusion on the search advisory committee.

"“By bringing together a diverse group of people from across the ACC to inform our process, including our student-athletes, we will position ourselves to find highly qualified candidates, and ultimately select the right Commissioner to lead the conference into the next era,” Syverud said in the league’s statement."

The search for the next ACC commissioner will take place during the 2020-21 academic year, with the goal to have a new commissioner in place by the summer of 2021. League officials have said that a five-person finalist selection committee will identify candidates for the ACC’s board to review.

A couple of days ago, Wildhack got an extension as the Orange’s athletics director through mid-2025. Jonathan, a senior defensive end with Syracuse football who hails from Baltimore, recently was named to the pre-season watch list for the 2020 Wuerffel Trophy, a major college football award focused on community service as well as athletic and academic achievement.